It will be interesting to see if any of these ex-aids of President Park were flipped to give evidence against her? These sentences makes me think that if the prosecutors cannot get President Park on the Samsung corruption charges then maybe they will convict her for knowing about this “cultural blacklist” her aides were running:
This combined photo shows former chief of staff Kim Ki-choon (L) and ex-Culture Minister Cho Yoon-sun entering the Seoul Central District Court in southern Seoul on July 27, 2017, to hear their sentencing. (Yonhap)
A former top aide of ousted president Park Geun-hye was sentenced to three years in jail on Thursday for running a list of culture figures critical of the government that barred them from state support.
The Seoul Central District Court doled out the sentence to former presidential chief of staff Kim Ki-choon after finding him guilty of abuse of power and perjury.
But Cho Yoon-sun, who served as the culture minister under the Park administration, was acquitted of her charges related to the so-called cultural blacklist and was released from prison after the court gave her a one-year jail term suspended for two years. The court found her guilty only of lying before the parliament at a hearing on the blacklist scandal last year.
The special counsel team investigating the case demanded seven years in prison for Kim and six years for Cho in the final hearing on July 3.
Kim’s lawyers immediately vowed to appeal the ruling, calling it “unjust.”
The court also sentenced five other former ranking government officials to 18 months to two years in jail, with some on probation, for their involvement in creating and managing the blacklist.
Former culture minister Kim Jong-deok was sentenced to two years in prison, while former presidential education and culture senior secretary Kim Sang-ryul was handed an 18-month imprisonment. Former presidential culture and sports secretary Kim So-young was given 18 months in jail, suspended for two years.
Former vice culture minister Chung Kwan-joo and ex-presidential aide Shin Dong-churl were sentenced to one year and a half in jail each.
The artist blacklist is part of a massive corruption scandal that removed Park from office in March. Kim and Cho were indicted in February for masterminding the creation of a register of nearly 10,000 artists, writers and filmmakers deemed unfriendly to the conservative administration. Those on the list were denied state subsidies. The accused have maintained their innocence. [Yonhap]
It will be interesting in a few years to see if this new policy actually helps reduce the number of sex crimes or not?:
South Korean lawmakers have passed amendments to sex crime laws which will see those guilty of attempted rape and voyeurism subject to drug treatment, also known as chemical castration, in order to control their sexual impulses.
During the cabinet meeting chaired by Prime Minister Lee Nak-yon held on Tuesday at the Government Complex in Seoul, the government deliberated and voted on a number of reforms related to the law concerning pharmacological treatment of violent sex crime offenders, meaning offenders committing crimes of attempted rape, voyeurism, and rape involving minor victims will all be subject to chemical castration.
In addition, those serving a prison sentence and court orders of pharmacological treatment in the last nine to six months will be able to appeal to a court to lift the orders after being examined by psychology professionals to assess the risks of recidivism. [Korea Biz Wire]
President Moon Jae-in is set to hold his first dialogue with top business leaders here this week over beer to help break the ice and possibly allow more frank discussions, an official from the presidential office, Cheong Wa Dae, said Tuesday.
The talks will be held Thursday and Friday, each day involving part of the top executives from the 14 largest business conglomerates, according to Cheong Wa Dae spokesman Park Soo-hyun. [Yonhap]
Minister Park plans to create his welfare state with steep tax hikes:
Health and Welfare Minister Park Neung-hoo speaks during his inauguration ceremony held at the government complex in Sejong, south of Seoul, on July 24, 2017. (Yonhap)
Health and Welfare Minister Park Neung-hoo said Monday he will strengthen the country’s social safety net and establish a foothold for a welfare state for the next five decades.
During his inauguration ceremony held at the government complex in Sejong, south of Seoul, Park said the country should be able to embrace the vulnerable people and become an inclusive society that can bring about growth from all walks of life.
“To make an inclusive welfare state, there should be harmony between a sound market economy and a strong social safety net,” he said, vowing to come up with detailed plans for such a society. [Yonhap]
Keep this study in mind the next time you see the anti-US groups out protesting; they don’t speak for the silent majority of South Koreans:
Today, a global median of 49% hold a favorable view of the U.S. This is a considerable drop from the median of 64% recorded across the same countries in the final years of the Obama administration.
In just four of 10 EU countries surveyed is the public positively inclined toward the U.S. The most widespread support is found in Poland (73%), Hungary (63%) and Italy (61%). In spite of the “special relationship” between America and the United Kingdom, only 50% of the British see the U.S. favorably. The most negative views of the U.S. are in Germany (62% unfavorable), Spain (60%) and the Netherlands (59%). And in the past year the share of the Spanish public that expresses a very unfavorable opinion has roughly tripled from 7% to 23%.
Only about four-in-ten Canadians (43%) and Russians (41%) express a favorable view of America.
There is strong support for the U.S. in Vietnam (84%), the Philippines (78%) and South Korea (75%). A majority of Japanese (57%) agree. But Australians are evenly split (48% favorable, 48% unfavorable). And roughly half of Indians (49%) have a positive view, although 42% express no opinion. [Pew Research Center via Reddit]
It will be interesting to see if the anti-US leftists try to bring back the US beef issue as a way to further drive a wedge between the US and the ROK:
The government said Thursday it has strengthened inspections on U.S. beef imports following the detection of mad cow disease in the United States.
The Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs held a quarantine committee meeting to share information on the outbreak of mad cow disease in the U.S. and gather expert opinion. The ministry has boosted quarantine measures, increasing the ratio of the U.S. beef going through inspections to 30 percent from the current 3 percent.
The step follows the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) announcing that an 11-year-old cow in Alabama was found to have an “atypical” variety of bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE), commonly known as mad cow disease.
The USDA said that it is not the classic variety that is linked to Creutzfeldt Jakob disease in people. Cattle are known to be infected with “typical” BSE through feed contaminated with infectious prion agents, such as meat-and-bone meal containing protein derived from rendered infected cattle.
Atypical BSE, meanwhile, generally occurs in older cattle, usually over eight years old, and is known to arise rarely and spontaneously in all cattle populations.
The USDA emphasized that atypical BSE cases do not impact official BSE risk status recognition.
“Therefore, this finding of an atypical case will not change the negligible risk status of the United States, and should not lead to any trade issues,” it noted, making clear that it has no plan to stop beef exports. [Korea Times]
Should not lead to any trade issues? Tell that to an anti-American leftist:
Lawyers for a Democratic Society, an NGO, claimed that the government should stop U.S. beef imports “to protect the people’s health.” Korea can suspend imports under U.S. beef “import requirements” which the two countries agreed upon if it is necessary for public health and safety.
Chinese Ambassador Qiu Guohong speaks during a forum held by the Korea Chamber of Commerce & Industry held on Jeju Island on July 22, 2017. (Yonhap)
China’s top envoy to South Korea called Saturday for a solution to quickly end a monthslong diplomatic row over the deployment of an advanced U.S. missile defense system in South Korea.
Chinese Ambassador Qiu Guohong said the deployment of the Terminal High Altitude Area Defense system had a “serious impact” on the mutual trust between the two countries, calling it “the biggest hurdle” for the development of bilateral relations.
“Many South Koreans say Beijing is retaliating against Seoul. But exchange and cooperation between countries call for political common ground, and we need to quickly find ways to resolve the issue,” Qiu said in a business forum in South Korea’s southern resort island of Jeju.
China has imposed restrictions on South Korean imports and banned the sale of group tour packages to its neighbor in protest of the U.S. missile system in South Korea.
Seoul and Washington said the missile system is only meant to counter North Korea’s evolving nuclear and missile threats. But China has repeatedly pressed South Korea to withdraw the THAAD system out of concern that the deployment could hurt Beijing’s security interests. [Yonhap]
